Page 24 of No Asylum Here

“Well, outside of the walls of Saint Bartholomew’s, it’s not the 1960s anymore. This is perfectly professional attire. Now, please have Ward Four orderlies bring me my patient, Nurse.”

Beatrice huffed at my terseness and left my office with the click of her heels fading down the hallway.

I sighed with frustration and pushed out of my chair to pace around the large chair bolted to the floor in the middle of the room. Soon, Patient Seventeen would be seated there. A cannibal. A murderer. That was all I knew about him. How fucked was that?

“I’m going crazy, Joanie,” I muttered to the potted cactus on my desk. “I allowed Rook to inject me with who-knows-what in exchange for providing care to a cannibal. Not because I think I’m up to the task of treating him, but because I want to convince myself that this patient and the man in my brain are not one and the same.”

With a pause, I pivoted to face the plant with sobering realization. “Because I can’t shake the voice in my head telling me that this isn’t some crazy coincidence or a trick of the drugs. I feel like I know this man.”

My attention shifted to the open black folder on my desk. He didn’t even have a birthdate or a last name. How could I feel this way about a dangerous inmate? Of all my pills’ side effects, there was no way that an inexplicable connection to a cannibal I’d never met was one of them.

A noise had me turning toward my door, thinking that the orderlies were here with my patient.

Instead, Lauren sat in the big metal chair at the center of my office, her large doe eyes locking with mine.

My stomach sank.

I was hopeful that I’d seen the last of Lauren once Rook told me the Treatment would make the hallucinations go away. But I hadn’t taken the other shot yet.

Instinctively, I reached for the pill bottle in my drawer.

Fuck me. Empty.

I’d have to have Fredrick refill them, and there was no way in hell I was going down to the basement alone. Not after what he said when he thought I was asleep. I’d have to get a nurse to do it for me later.

“Dr. Beckett—” Lauren’s waifish plea had a fist of anxiety clenching my heart.

“Leave me alone!” Unable to stand the ghost of my past for a second longer, I hurled the empty prescription bottle at her. It passed through her chest and bounced off the chair seat.

That’s when the door opened, and an orderly appeared in my doorway. “Dr. Beckett. We have Patient Seventeen prepped and ready for you.”

He held the door open, allowing another staff member to push what appeared to be a human hand truck. Strapped to it was a tall man with a sack over his head. He wasn’t merely tied to the cart by leather belts, but the straitjacket he wore forced his arms into a pretzel over his chest, and he was encased in several yards of chain.

“Is all this really necessary?”

“Dr. Rook’s orders. He’s dangerous. One moment, he’s completely lucid and can hold thoughtful conversations. The next, he sees demons and monsters and becomes violent and hungry. If he perceives you as a demon⁠—”

“He’ll bust through the chain and eat me?”

“Exactly.”

His sobering response took me aback. I’d been joking. I wasn’t entirely sure the orderly wasn’t.

“Right, uh, well, just put him in the chair.”

The orderlies both glanced at the chair with my hallucination of Lauren still seated quietly on the chair’s thick padding. The two men swapped a confused look before one of them cleared their throat. “Looks like you’re currently busy with a patient. Shall we have her removed or come back when your session is finished?”

Chapter Twelve

Patient Seventeen

I couldn’t see shit through the burlap bag over my head. As if the leather half-mask covering my mouth wasn’t bad enough, how was I supposed to scare the shit out of this new doctor if I couldn’t even see her?

“O–on second thought, I don’t think I’m ready for today’s session. I’m not feeling well all of a sudden.”

The moment she spoke—hearing the waiver in her voice—maybe it would be easy crawling under her skin after all. She sounded timid. Shaken up. As if she’d seen a ghost.

I couldn’t place the exact emotion in her mutter, but something had thrown her off her game. Was it me? Doubtful. I hadn’t the slightest clue why Rook was allowing this new doctor to see me. It’s not like he cared about my treatment. This place wasn’t here to help people. It was just a prison.